PHL agri, manufacturing at risk of ‘hollowing out’—solon By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz
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HILE he supports the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) “as a free trader,” an economist-lawmaker on Thursday said the agreement could “accelerate the hollowing out of our domestic agriculture and manufacturing sectors” if there is no determined move to make manufacturing more competitive and agriculture more efficient. Still, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Sarte Salceda said he believes “the
impacts on our country would be worse by not joining.” “You lose out if you don’t join the competition. But you join the competition to win,” Salceda said. “The RCEP’s most significant change is really easier rules-oforigin procedures. Any input from any member country of the RCEP is considered domestic input. As such, even when the inputs are, say, from a mix of China, Vietnam, and Thailand for complex goods, as long as they total to 40 percent of the value of the good, they will qualify for preferential tariffs—97 percent of which ATIGA already reduced to zero,” he
said, referring to the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement. “It could let more Chinese and Australian complex goods into the country with zero tariffs. The outright tariff reductions are for only a handful of products, but this is the backdoor, so to speak,” he added. However, Salceda said he is worried because Indochina is already integrating. “There is a seamless interconnection of economies from as high north as China to down south in Singapore. And we, along with Indonesia, are the only ones to be left out of this interconnectiv-
ity,” he said. “In that area, they even exchange non-tradeables, such as energy from Laos or Cambodia, where power prices are as low as 2 pesos per kwh. Thailand makes use of cheap Burmese labor. And China and Vietnam, for all their tensions, benefit from being next to each other. So, RCEP will only accelerate the integration of these economies and their valuechains,” he added. Salceda said that the Philippines is a service-driven economy, “so that works.” See “PHL,” A2
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OT money inflows surged in January on the back of investments in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE)-listed as well as government securities, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Data from the BSP showed that net hot money inf lows reached $292.12 million, a 214.1-percent growth from December 2022 and a 1,900-percent increase from January 2022. The BSP said net inflows reached $92.95 million in December 2022 while inflows were at $14.6 million in January 2022. “Majority of investments or 62.8 percent registered were in PSE-listed securities—investments mainly in banks, holding firms, property, food, beverage & tobacco, and electricity, energy, power & water,” the BSP said. “The remaining went to investments in Peso government securities [or] 37.2 percent and in other instruments [at] less than 1 percent,” it added. Invest ment s for t he mont h mostly came from the United Kingdom, United States, Singapore, Luxembourg and Hong Kong, with combined share to total at 83.8 percent.
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HE number of employerre por ted per m a nent ly d ispl aced workers l ast year continued to rise despite the country’s high economic growth in the period, according to latest data from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). In its 2022 Job Displacement Report (JDR), DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) registered 412,753 displaced workers from January to December of 2022. This was higher compared to the 386,819 displacement figure in 2021.
RETURNING MIGRANTS More than 600 returning OFWs attend a lecture dubbed, “Serbisyo para sa OFW” on Thursday, February 23, 2023. The lecture is in collaboration with the Department of Migrant Workers, Philippine National Police, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Public Employment Service Office and United Filipino Global. The seminar tackled online scamming and cyber crime, violence against women and children, and human trafficking. NONOY LACZA
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1ST BATCH OF PHL DURIAN CHINA-BOUND SOON By Samuel P. Medenilla
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HE Philippines is set to export its first batch of durian to China next month under a deal which was signed during the trip of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in Beijing in January. During a meeting with the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) in Malacañang last Tuesday, the Department of Agriculture (DA) informed the President of the shipment schedule.
DA Assistant Secretary Arnel De Mesa said an initial volume of 7,500 metric tons (MT) of durian would be exported to China. The fruit will be sourced from 59 different farmers or producers covering some 400 hectares of production area. The DA and China's General Administration of Customs already signed a protocol of phytosanitary requirements for the export of fresh durian. President Marcos said more locally produced fruits, including coconut and ba-
nanas, are expected to be shipped to China in the coming months. These after at least four Chinese firms have expressed interest in purchasing $2.09 billion worth of Philippine fruits. Representatives of the Davao Durian Industry Association, who were present in the PSAC meeting, assured the President they are ready to meet the big demand from China. The Davao region covers 78 percent of the total durian production in the country.
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PESO exchange rates n US 55.1330 n japan 0.4087 n UK 66.4242 n HK 7.0267 n CHINA 8.0019 n singapore 41.1348 n australia 37.5070 n EU 58.4685 n KOREA 0.0423 n SAUDI arabia 14.6974 Source: BSP (February 23, 2023)